NoMan is an Island
by general zargon
Summary: This is based on the short story "Music Hath Charms" by Tanya Huff. It picks up right after Ali leaves the concert. I just couldn't help wondering what happened during the time-skip, so I wrote this! Apologies for any OOCness!


_Author's Note: This is just something I wrote to clear out a dream plot bunny, but I hope you readers enjoy it all the same! Forgive any mistakes; I'm mostly playing around here…especially since I don't think the story ever mentioned Ali's hair or eye color…^.^_

* * *

By the time Ali got to the parking lot, the adrenaline that had been keeping her going while she'd pressed her face to brass casing of the light and her siren-aided escape at the 'private' concert for _NoMan_ was fading and the burn on her cheek and the back of her ear was starting to hurt like hell.

She was struggling to catch her breath as she slowed her hurried walk to a stop under a streetlight, partly because of her quick escape and partly because the heat Brandon's voice and Travis's fiddle had stirred in her was still running through her veins. She couldn't hear any music in the parking lot, so she had taken the wax plugs out after a quick check, but the memory of what she had heard was enough to make her uncomfortable.

And _very _horny.

The talent agent groaned to herself, visibly drooping as she slumped down to a sitting position right there on the edge of the sidewalk, too exhausted to move any further. It wasn't like anyone was likely to bother her; not at that time of night and not in front of the secluded building that Mike had picked out for his trap. Less chance of a passerby overhearing Brandon and Travis and ruining everything, she thought sarcastically, as she closed her eyes and drew her legs up so she could rest her forehead on her jean-clad knees. It had been a long day, and the exhaustion was catching up to her with a vengeance.

Ali's face stung, and her cotton peasant blouse, which she had put on simply because it complimented her skin and made her breasts look fantastic, was rubbing against her nipples through her lacey bra and that was a different kind of pain altogether. She sighed and turned her head to rest the undamaged side of her face on her knees, feeling the burn throb seemingly in time with her heartbeat, and didn't that just kill what was left of her good mood from knowing Mike would get what was coming to him?

But more than anything, she was just tired, and she felt the pain and exhaustion distantly, like it was coming through a fog. A shiver trailed down her spine, but she hardly felt the chill of the night air, concentrating on dulling the throb of her injury as she was. Still, she wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered, and her eyes slowly closed as her mind drifted, idly wondering when people would begin leaving and where Tom had stashed her purse since it contained her car keys…

* * *

Three hours later, Travis and Brandon Noman traded identical smirks as they walked out of the building, the rest of the band leaving by the back way, even though they wouldn't be able to really remember why. They were also rather proud of the fates they had ensured for the businessmen who had played a part in Michael Richter's trap, and they had very much enjoyed what they'd done to the man himself.

Oh yes, they had _definitely_ enjoyed that.

The smirks on their faces faded slightly in unison as they remembered Alysha Bedford, the pretty talent agent who had tried to warn them, and Brandon murmured, "You know we owe her an apology, don't you?" After all, she had been right, he left unsaid but Travis heard all the same.

She had figured out what they were, noticed a man working for Richter wearing earplugs, went out of her way to warn them – for personal gain, maybe, but she hadn't had to stick her neck out like that. And they had dismissed her, ignored her warning, and almost paid the price because they had been too arrogant to listen. To be specific, _Travis _had been too arrogant to listen.

"No, _I _owe her an apology. After all, I'm the one who didn't believe her…" the fiddle player returned in a whisper, putting thought to words as a small, unfamiliar wiggle of guilt stirred in his gut, especially as he remembered the sight of the talent agent's bound wrists, which they had made Tom Hartmore release as soon as they had seen them. Judging by Brandon's flinch, his brother was remembering the same thing.

Travis shouldered his fiddle case and sighed, glancing at Brandon as he said, "She thinks she can control us," it was a weak defense and both of them knew it.

Brandon shook his head as they both turned to head towards their truck, contradicting Travis even as he matched pace with him, "No, she said _manage_, and according to her, there is a difference." His lips twitched into a smile, one matched by the answering grin on his brother's face as they both remembered Ali's up-close-and-personal negotiating style, helped along by their own powers. Of course, it would have been better if they had gotten to finish, but that had been Travis's doing.

Casting a gimlet stare at his brother, Brandon opened his mouth to continue but then paused as something at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He stopped walking abruptly, and Travis paused when he noticed his twin was no longer beside him.

Turning around, the fiddle player was treated to sight of his brother moving quickly towards someone sitting on the curb, a female someone by the size and general shape, and just as he was about to sigh and call his brother back, since this was no time to be picking up women, he noticed something about the woman. She was wearing the same clothes that Ali had been in the building, but she should have left hours ago…

A minute later and he was right beside Brandon as they approached the sitting figure, which they could now see _was _Alysha Bedford, and they traded glances, understandably concerned with how the talent agent was just sitting out in the cold. And shivering like crazy, Brandon noted as he knelt down beside Ali and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, about to ask if she was alright when the woman started and lifted her head, blinking slowly as though waking up.

Ali's brown hair was tousled, which would normally have been attractive to both brothers, but part of it had been pushed behind her ear to expose a painful looking burn on her cheek – and partially behind her ear, Travis saw as he tilted his head slightly. Her blue eyes were glazed, and not in a good way, Brandon noted uneasily as the twins glanced at each other. Obviously something else had gone on while they had been almost tricked into slavery by Mike Richter than they had thought.

Another blink later, and the glaze in Ali's eyes cleared slightly, though her shivering increased.

The talent agent shook her head slightly, blinking and wondering dazedly what was going on as she realized that she was freezing, her butt was numb, and the Noman brothers were kneeling on either side of her and looking concerned. Yeah, she thought in confusion, definitely something going on…and what time was it? It was a lot darker than it had been when she'd left the building, though the streetlight she was sitting under provided more than enough light to see by.

The brunette looked from Brandon to Travis, frowning as she asked, a bit worried by the fact that the twins looked worried, "What's going on?" she also belatedly remembered what she had thinking of when things went fuzzy, and she asked, "And do you know where my purse is? Tom took it, and I don't know where he put it…" To try and make her eyes focus, since her vision was wavering for some reason, she looked at the Noman brothers. To make her eyes focus, she told herself, not to see if they had somehow gotten hurt, and she would stick to that story.

Brandon was wearing the same black cowboy hat and black t-shirt with the band's name written on it in red that he had been wearing when she had first seen him, but this time his jeans were faded and his cowboy boots had green designs on the toes. Travis was also wearing the same cowboy hat and shirt he had been wearing when she had first seen him, but with black jeans and brown cowboy boots. Both of them seemed completely fine, if slightly smug and slightly worried at the same time, but if she had to guess, she would guess that the worry was for her.

She was aware enough to know that drifting off in the middle of a parking lot and feeling really cold when you woke up did not bode well for your health.

Brandon raised his eyebrows at the mention of Hartmore's name, and he slowly answered Ali's question, "No, I don't know where Hartmore put your purse…and my brother and I just found you sitting out here…Mind telling us how you got that burn?" His and Travis's eyes narrowed at the same time as they both shifted to sit beside Ali and made themselves comfortable.

In her condition there was no way that they were leaving Ali by herself in the middle of a freaking parking lot.

Ali flushed, and then mentally smacked herself, because there was no reason for her to be embarrassed. What was so unusual about pressing her face to a hot light casing in order to melt a wax ear plug that her ex-boyfriend and his bastard of a boss had stuffed in her ear to keep her from reacting to a pair of sirens?

…Okay, so maybe if she thought about it like that, it _was _a _little _strange, she admitted to herself.

"I didn't bring my own ear plugs, you know," she muttered sourly, "Tom grabbed me a few minutes after I got in the door, he must have noticed that I grabbed that flyer from his desk or something, and I can't believe he'd do that after I gave him what was probably the most incredible sex of his life!" and she wasn't bitter about that at all, but she must have been loopy or something to have just told two musicians that she was hoping to sign that she'd slept with someone to find out where they'd be.

Unfortunately, there was apparently no filter between her mouth and her brain that night, because she just kept talking, "Tom brought me to Mike, and Mike spilled his big plan, which basically boiled down to him having paid the execs who were there to show up with ear plugs so that they wouldn't be able to hear the music, apparently they didn't like music. Tom and Mike had wax ear plugs themselves, and I knew that I had to do something or you two were going to wind up doing whatever Mike wanted, whenever he wanted it…" she trailed off and shuddered in disgust at that thought before finishing her explanation, "I remembered that the ear plugs were wax, so they'd melt, and then I saw the light casing and well…you can probably guess the rest."

As if it had been waiting for her to stop talking, the burn on her face sent out a sharp spike of pain, and Ali winced.

Her exhaustion was catching up to her, because she could have sworn that one minute she was sitting on the ground and the next minute she was in Travis's arms, Brandon carrying his brother's fiddle case.

Travis smirked at her as he started walking in the direction of his and Brandon's truck, telling the talent agent, "Come on, lady, let's get you somewhere warm and put something on that burn before it gets infected. And then after you wake up from a nice long nap, we can talk about _NoMan _signing on with Bedford Entertainment."

A bright grin spread across her face at that, but she just couldn't resist piping up as they settled into the comfortable seat on the passenger side while Brandon slid into the drivers' seat, "Fantastic! But can you and Brandon switch places? I like him the best."

Brandon burst out laughing while Travis made a face. Ali just grinned, settled back against Travis, and curled up in his lap to enjoy the ride.

* * *

_Author's Note: And that's The End! Please review and tell me what you guys thought! Constructive criticism is welcome!_


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